Trahant Reports

Let’s talk about the challenge to spend billions of dollars.

The need is clear. The economic activity that supported jobs, social services, and growth all came to a halt last year. Congress responded with an unprecedented investment in Indian Country targeting money for relief.

The challenge is to spend money effectively.

Tribes are expecting a lot more than just window decoration from the Biden administration and Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary. The hope is for a secretary who deeply understands tribal issues and is ready to act accordingly.

But first she has to get past the Senate.

On this Presidents’ Day, let’s take a minute to consider the President of the United States and a complicated history for the people Indigenous to this land and the governments that were here first. And the ongoing government-to-government relations between the White House and tribal capitals.

It’s often said that elections have consequences. In this case the Georgia Senate race last month could make all the difference if Rep. Deb Haaland is confirmed as the first Native American to be Secretary of the Interior. Republicans will need Democrats to vote against her to prevent her from taking office.

The distribution of vaccines to Indian Country is working well because tribal governments, unlike their state counterparts, already have a culture of public health.

And, more important, the Indian health system is just that, a system.

The Senate is having a tough time coming up with rules about how the next two years will work with Republicans and Democrats split evenly. And it’s one more reason why it’s time to reconsider that very body.

This week marks Martin Luther King Day and the beginning of a new presidential administration. A good moment to reflect on legacy.

We now know how close this whole affair came to an even more lethal day with some of the provocateurs promising to kidnap or kill the vice president, members of Congress, and their staff.

It also opened up a political honeymoon for the Biden administration that could result in profound changes that have been held up by divisions.

Indian Country Today remains in an expansion mode -- and the goal is to change the narrative of the Indigenous world (by reporting on stories that would too often go untold.)

Our children and grandchildren should remember the stories we tell about 2020. The pandemic, the resilience, and, of course, memories of those we lost.